Saini Sa'aB
K00l$@!n!
It is summertime in Indian-controlled Kashmir and the streets are roiled by unrest. Young separatist protesters in jeans and bandanas hurl rocks at Indian troops, who respond with tear gas, baton charges and live ammunition. At least 11 people have died in the past three weeks of street violence, and a round-the-clock curfew is in force. Shops, businesses, schools and government offices are shut. Authorities have postponed college examinations and have blocked text messages on cell phones in an attempt to prevent demonstrators from mobilizing. It is the third summer in a row that deadly protests have erupted, a symptom of the tensions permeating this Muslim-dominated Himalayan region, which has long chafed under Indian rule and is patrolled by hundreds of thousands of troops. A two-decade-long Islamic insurgency has waned but popular anger has not. Even moderate Kashmiris hoping for greater autonomy within India, which is predominantly Hindu, have been frustrated by the government. There is a long history of separatist movements in Kashmir, which has been divided between archrivals India and Pakistan since 1947. Most were peaceful until 1989, when the bloody armed insurgency erupted, demanding India's part of the region merge with Pakistan or get independence
